A Day of Dolphins
by Sugarbubbleslove
Summary: Tifa swims with the Dolphins while someone is watching her. Hints of Cloud/Tifa. One Shot


Title: A Day of Dolphins

Characters: Hints of Cloud/Tifa

Rating: Teen

Disclaimer: I don't own anything or anyone. Everyone and everything belongs to Square Enix/Soft and the plot idea belongs to Johnnyd2 who had requested this during an MSN conversation. I make neither profit nor money from creating this purely fictional fan fiction.

Summary: Tifa, needing a break, goes for a swim when some of her friends show up and Cloud overhears an interesting conversation and sees an interesting sight.

Warning: Skinny dipping

A/N: This was Johnnyd2 idea who thought up the idea and basically hinted me to write it. I loved the plot idea so much that I had to do it. This is a one shot only.

Swimming with Thoughts

Tifa hummed to herself under her breath as she moved closer to the ocean, surrounded by the rocks. She had managed to slip away from the others unnoticed and had wanted to use this time for herself and to relax. She toed off her converts, unzipped her skirt and pulled off her white top, leaving her clad in her white underwear. She placed her clothes on the rocky bank, making sure it was low enough for her to reach but high enough so the waves wouldn't soak them.

Tifa stripped her underwear off and placed them in between her clothes, leaving her naked under the sunlight before she moved toward the dark blue water and dipped her toe into the water before lowering her body down and swam out further into the ocean.

She closed her eyes as she tipped her head back to allow the sun to shine on her when she heard splashing. Opening her eyes, they spotted a group of dolphins swimming over to her. She giggled as she reached out a hand, stroking it over one of the dolphins' back as they swam past her before they started jumping out of the water, creating a ring of droplets much to Tifa's delight.

Cloud was watching from a low cliff. He was lying on his stomach with his chin resting on his overlapped hands. He had noticed Tifa sneaking off and had waited for a few moments before following her, making sure that everyone else was busy. He couldn't help but watch Tifa as she stripped down to bare skin before lowering herself in the water. Now she was playing with the dolphins.

A faint smile crossed Cloud's face as he remembered their childhoods. Tifa had always had a fascination with dolphins that resulted in her getting toys and ornaments of the mammal. He came back to the present and noticed that Tifa was now floating on her back with the dolphins circling her.

"You know," he lifted his head when he heard Tifa's voice float through the air. At first, he had thought he had been spotted but saw that she was looking up at the sky rather than him. "I was excited when he came back but now…he's so different from whom he used to be…" A dolphin nudge Tifa's side and she turned her head to face the dolphin, smiling gently as she ran a hand over his back. "It is understandable…he has been through so many things but a part of me can't help but wish that he was still the same boy before he left for Shin-Ra." She straightened up in the water and sighed. "I know that it's wrong for me to wish this but it's so hard not to." She swam a few laps with the dolphins following her before she curled a hand around a dolphin's fin and allowed it to pull her through the water, her laughers filling the air, causing Cloud to smile once more.

The dolphin finally came to a stop. Tifa uncurled her hand from around its fin and swam backward for a little while before she closed her eyes, allowing herself to float in the water.

"Maybe I'm just hoping for too much," Tifa spoke once more. "I mean…it has been seven years since we last saw each other…although he had mentioned something that I thought was a dream five years ago." Cloud perked up when he heard this. "But it must have been a dream…right? I mean, he would have told me if he had been in Nibeliheim the whole time…wouldn't he?" One of the dolphins nudged her side and clicked its tongue. Tifa giggled as she reached out and rubbed a hand over the dolphin's nose before she turned her body and hugged the dolphin, resting her head just next to its fin.

"I know…Cloud has always been the strong silent boy who prefers to shoulder everything rather than allow himself to 'burden' anyone else," Tifa said with a tender smile. "He saved my life you know? It was after my mother's death, I was so stubborn that I wanted to go up into the mountain and he was the only who followed me and brought me back when I fell and hurt myself. Even though I was in a coma, I heard him tell my father that it had been his idea, protecting me. I tried to tell my father that it had been my idea and that Cloud had been covering for me but my father wouldn't hear of it…he continued to blame Cloud and had forbidden me to even see him." Cloud's head snapped up at this…he had never known this before and it shocked him. Tifa pulled away from the dolphin and laid on her back once more, closing her eyes.

"But I refused, even when we were younger, Cloud had always held something that drew me to him…I don't really know what it is but I hope that one day…I will be able to find out what it is," Tifa opened her red eyes to look at the bright white clouds in the sky, sometimes shadowing the sun and she straightened up in the water once more. "One day…he'll be ready to let me know how he really feels and I'll be at his side when he is ready to open up, whether it's to break my heart or make me whole, I will always be at his side."

Tifa swam back over to the rocky bank and hoisted herself out of the water, twisting around so she was sitting on the rocky bank and looking out at the dolphins that were now milling around her feet, sad that their water playmate was no longer playing with them. She grinned down at them with a sad tender smile.

"Thanks," she nudged a dolphin with her feet. The dolphins clicked before they submersed under water and swam away, occasionally jumping into the air, providing entertainment for the girl before they disappeared out of sight.

Tifa laid down on a flat piece of rock that she found and allowed the bright sun to dry her body for her. In her haste to get away, she had forgotten to bring a towel but it didn't matter – the sun was hot and it would do the job.

Cloud swallowed as he tried to tear his eyes away but found that he couldn't. Her pale skin glowed under the sunlight and her dark hair shone. His eyes travelled from her toes and up to her relaxed face, lingering on the dark shadow between her legs and her breasts for a few moments till his eyes caught something when she turned on her to front so the sun could dry her back.

There was a black mark on her back, on the curve of her butt. He swallowed even harder when he realised that she had gotten a tattoo and wondered when she had it done. Thanks to the Mako and Jenova injections he had received, he was able to see what the tattoo was. It had a curved C linked with a curved T and felt his heart tightened as he looked away. He knew how he felt about Tifa and a part of him wish that he could tell her but not with everything that had happened to him…not after all the deaths he had seen.

Tifa, once she was dried, turned back to her front and sat up, watching as the sun slowly sinking behind the ocean and realised that she had been gone for far too long. She moved over to where she had placed her clothes and pulled them back on, tying her hair back into its usual low ponytail before she moved back over to the rocky bank and sat down, wrapping her arms around her knees and resting her chin on her knees.

"Maybe…one day…he would be able to tell me how he really feels," whispered Tifa before she stood up once more.

Tifa sighed as she pulled her gaze away from the ocean that signalized freedom and back toward the gang to face her duty of helping them to bring down Sephiroth…to help bring about peace on Earth…the ocean would be there for her another day…another life.

Cloud felt a frown mar his forehead as he watched Tifa's face change from being smooth and relaxed, from being the carefree girl who had nothing to worry about to determined and hard lines, becoming an older woman who was now a warrior. Sighing to himself, he made his way back down the cliff, wishing with all his heart that he could give her the life of peace that she craved.

Maybe one day…another life he would be able to grant that wish.

The End

A/N: I wanted to apologise for taking so long with FF7: A Bond of Love, I'm currently experiencing mind block with it and hoping that writing will kick it back into action.


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